The Gender Question

THOUGH the findings of the Human Development in South Asia-The Gender Question, the UNDP report released Monday, are not all complete revelations, they go to reinforce the common belief that South Asian women are indeed treated most unjustly by the political, economic and cultural systems obtaining in the countries in the region. The report presents a litany of woes that women in South Asia sufer from. An estimated 208,000 women in South Asia die annually due to pregnancy and birth-related complications. South Asian women in general receive less attention to their health needs than the region’s men. If that is the situation on the health front, women rights in South Asia continue to be violated despite constitutional guarantees of equality. This happens because the enforcement of laws intended to protect or empower women is obstructed by cultural traditions, ignorance of law, legal loopholes and inconsistencies and a lack of will among enforcement agents and the judiciary. One of the reasons why women continue to suffer from inequality is the fact that they are hardly there at the higher echelons of decision-making. The report rightly draws the attention to the fact that though women account for half of the population in South Asia, they remain mostly invisible in all government institutions. Women’s participation in decision-making bodies remains low, notwithstanding the fact that four out of the seven South Asian countries have had female heads of state and prime ministers.

At the root of all that perpetuates the current situation of South Asian women is, of course, the low levels of literacy. The female literacy rate is only 37 per cent, which is the lowest female literacy rate among all the world’s regions. Incidentally, Nepal has the worst female literacy rate of 21 per cent in the region. To look ahead, one may take heart from the report’s finding that despite obstacles many grassroots initiatives across South Asia are helping women to realise the importance of their role as people, and as citizens. In Nepal’s context, Chairman of the National Assembly Dr Mohammad Mohsin, while releasing the report, said a joint committee of the parliament was being formed to review all the protocols on women’s rights endorsed by Nepal so far. What is more essential is to see some actions to address the gender question by drawing up programmes that give equality to Nepalese women in governance and in economic, political and educational opportunities.

Rhinos’ New Home

NEPAL’S rhinoceroses have become a major draw among the tourists, the conservationists, the ecologists and the assorted experts from all over the world. For this, the various government agencies charged with protecting these endangered species as well as the international organisations that have chipped in with their resources to preserve these one-horned pachyderms for posterity, should be duly commended. Had it not been for their joint efforts, these endangered animals could have gone the way of the Dodo. Rhinos, in their hundreds, used to roam in the lush forests of the Terai plains of Nepal. However, with the introduction of the shikars (big game hunts) by the then Rana rulers, these animals were soon being hunted out of extinction. The appearance of the poachers in the scene made these pachyderms’ survival chances more precarious. While rhinos’ heads became one of the most coveted trophies among the big-game hunters, the poachers went after their horns that still command a high premium among the traditional medical practitioners. By late ‘60s, their population reached an all-time low of 45. This, in turn, set the alarm bells ringing at home and abroad. Now, they number around 550 in the Royal Chitwan National Park alone, thanks to the sustained efforts of the government agencies and their foreign counterparts.

However, their sheer number—around 550—within an area of about 1,100 square kilometers, has thrown up fresh challenges for the concerned authorities. While these 550-strong rhinos’ penchant for carving out their own territory from the already constricted area by engaging in deadly fights is proving fatal to their own survival, their frequent raids of the farms outside the park’s protected area are increasing exposing them to dangers, especially from the poachers. Moreover, along with the rise in their population, the probability of in-breeding among themselves has also increased, thereby leaving them wide open to one animal epidemic or the other from decimating their numbers. In such a vexing scenario, translocation of these endangered species to other protected parks and preserves within the nation has not only proved to the right strategy on the part of the park authorities but its success saga has become the cynosure of the world’s conservationists. What remains how is for the concerned national and international agencies to ensure the survival of these translocated one-horned pachyderms in their new habitats.